


City of Ashes

by CyndaGhoul812



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bittybones (Undertale), Angst, Crime Fighting, Cuddling, Everyone Has Had A Bad Time, Fluff, Homelessness, Horror Bitty, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Lil Bro Bitty - Freeform, Major character death - Freeform, Meek Bitty - Freeform, Murder, Original Character(s), PTSD, Past Abuse, Post-Undertale Genocide Route, Violence, animal fighting/abuse, edgy bitty - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-06-29 07:07:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19825054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyndaGhoul812/pseuds/CyndaGhoul812
Summary: After the loss of her beloved bitty, detective Penny didn't expect to find another bitty partner so soon. Together, they struggle to solve the case that had led to her previous partner's untimely death. Though they may make a couple extra friends and enemies along the way...





	1. Gambit

“I take no satisfaction from this. Remember that.”

“Wait! Stop! I’ll-”

“Enough talk.”

Snapping and crunching sounds invaded the hollow space of the abandoned warehouse. The mix of dying screams along with the cracking of bones was the cherry on top of this horrifying night gone wrong.

The thief wiped his hands free of the shimmering dust before gazing back up with piercing silver eyes. His only definable feature they could ever hope to identify at this point.

“Next time, it'll your corpse at my feet. Stay out of our way, and quit following me.” The man turned away, preparing to leave the warehouse. “Word of advice? Pretending to be a hero will get you nowhere in life. It just breeds more pain and suffering. Go home kid.”

The young woman stumbled forward, not quite hearing the man's small speech. She fell to her knees before him and wept as she brushed her hands through the fairy like dust littering the floor.

Death looked much too beautiful for her dear friend.

Her hands fisted in the still warm crimson colored dust as he began to walk away, unbothered by his violent actions.

In all her life, the girl had never truly hated anyone until that moment. She wanted that man to suffer like she was currently. A sob forced its way out of her throat as the grief hit her like a sledgehammer to the gut. The cries that followed were only a mere echo of the pain that was slowly rising up inside her.

Her bitty had died saving her.

She wanted revenge.

She wanted…

…

* * *

“Hey.”

Penny simply looked up from where she was working on an endless stack of documentation to see her co-worker waiting on her with a hopeful expression. Averting her gaze, Penny cleared her throat and nodded for her to go ahead with whatever she was going to ask.

“Sooo… I was wondering if you’d be at all interested in getting a couple drinks tonight? Maybe go bar hopping and maybe finding some lucky guy-”

Penny sighed and turned to the next page on her cluttered desk. “Listen, I appreciate the effort, but like the other twenty days or whatnot, I’m going to have to say no.”

Her co-worker Beatrix shook her head and sat herself on the corner of her desk. “Well, it was worth a shot. You’ll know when you’re ready to get back in the swing of things.”

“I am back in the-” Penny gestured at the stack of paperwork in front of her before glancing around at the confining walls of her office. “‘Swing’ of things, as you say.”

“Right… So when are you going to do some actual detective work and not some first year intern chores?” Beatrix lifted a judging eyebrow as she made a scene at looking at her hard work with obvious disdain. 

“This stuff is important too!” Penny said defensively.

“You’ve always hated this part of the job!” Beatrix shook her head, letting her impressively long perfectly curled hair tussle over her shoulders and back. She could’ve been a model, and many men had fallen for her looks over the years. Her co-worker looked like amazon princess cut and sculpted from marble. 

Penny thought of herself as quite average in comparison.

“I’m not ready, and I don’t like being chaperoned.”

“It’s been over three weeks now, Penny. I know he meant a lot to you. The two of you were practically glued together. But you’ve got to move on. You know Bor-”

“Don’t say it.” She sniffed, angrily wiping her irritated puffy eyes. 

“Penny…”

“Good afternoon, guys!” One of the somewhat newer recruits poked his head into the doorway. He’d already been at the station for a year and a half, but Eran had already made a name for himself. While he was a very by the rules type of guy who was well appreciated by the older staff by being an overachiever, he had one flaw. He was hopelessly head over heels in love with the beauty who refused to be claimed by any man. 

Penny’s best friend, Beatrix. 

The amazon princess.

Penny smiled fondly at the man’s antics, bad mood starting to fade momentarily. Even though she could only handle small doses of the guy, she was secretly rooting for him to win her friend over.

He was admittedly attractive, but still a dork, and any man that looked at a woman the way he did at Beatrix would be loyal to that lady for a lifetime.

Perfect husband material.

She didn’t think Beatrix saw him that way though.

“Did you guys hear the new rules coming out this week? The chief has them listed up on the bulletin board in the break room.” Eran continued excitedly, looking like an overactive puppy. “I guess the government is making it mandatory for certain officers to have bitty bones with them during detective work. There’s a bunch of other new regulations, but maybe that means the department will hold another adoption event here soon? I want one so bad. I’m hoping for a Brassberry bitty.”

Penny blinked, stood up from her desk, grabbing her belongings from the desk drawer before hastily making a strategic retreat.

From somewhere behind her, she could hear Eran quizzically ask out of concern. “Was it something I said?”

“No, shit.” Beatrix replied before presumably biting his head off.

* * *

It was a cloudy day, but it made for some good thinking weather as Penny walked home alone. She hadn’t quite gotten back in the routine of driving to and from work yet. The streets weren’t exactly safe without a bitty by your side to protect you from most street dangers. Yet, it didn’t erase the clockwork routine that’d been ingrained in her over the past four years.

Damn, had it really been that long since that fateful biannual police station adoption event? They had always been encouraged by their superiors to find a bitty partner for the job. It made their work run so much smoother. Less casualties to both sides of the law, and protection of the employees. It was like having a police canine, but more intelligent. At first, Penny had been hesitant, not wanting to get caught up in the new fad, but her bitty had been special.

Her heart panged in agony, and she had to physically fight back a fresh wave of tears as she neared the end of her ten minute walk to her apartment complex on the outskirts of Ebott city. Somewhere deep inside her, she knew she couldn’t just accept any regular bitty into her life. She’d shared everything with her little skeleton, all her fears and secrets. Her likes and dislikes all piled onto one small irreplaceable being.

She wanted so badly to feel his comforting weight on her shoulder more than anything.

Maybe she could quit and find a new career where she didn't need a bitty?

She stopped on the sidewalk as the gravity of the situation hit her.

No, she couldn’t just abandon her life’s dream like that. There had been a time when all she did was live for the thrill of her job. She couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

But it wouldn’t be the same anymore.

What if it never got better, and her passion for being a detective never returned?

Maybe she could ask for another couple of days off? The chief would be pissed, but if it would snap her out of her funk.

“Move it, lady!” A gruff aggravated voice sounded from behind her, but before she could move an inch, a herd of teenagers barreled around her. Startled, Penny stumbled towards the side of the brick building beside her and watched as they stampeded off before turning sharply around the street corner. 

Cautiously, Penny moved forward and almost laughed at her misfortune. They had stopped in the alley beside her apartment complex. Their whoops and hollers shattering the otherwise calm of the immediate area.

“Gotcha cornered now you fucker!”

“Teach it a lesson, Butch!”

“I can’t fucking get a hold of it. Hold still, damn skeleton fuck!”

Penny frowned, inching closer, but still out of sight in case one of them got bored and looked away from the commotion. Were they terrorizing a bitty?

A poof of gold appeared on the shoulder of the hulky leader of the pack of teens before dissipating just as quick. Without a doubt it was a skeleton bitty, but not a second later the little guy struck like a viper. Small materialized bone daggers as sharp as razors dug shallowly into the flesh above the guy’s collarbone before he teleported away with a snicker.

“Fucking damnit! Somebody catch the stupid thing already!” The big guy hollered as the little skeleton wearing a yellow hoodie continued to annoy and minorly injure the group of delinquents. 

Penny watched with mild amusement, almost startled at herself for catching herself smiling at the scene. She’d been thinking the worst when she’d followed them coincidently to her place of residence.

Still, she wondered what their little spat was all about in the first place. Was it even worth getting stabbed fifty times by a little skeleton monster they couldn’t even lay a finger on?

While pondering if she should intervene, the skeleton popped into existence on the concrete ground on the outer circle of the group, swaying slightly as he eyed up his opponents. Then as a boot came swinging his way, he went to teleport, but gasped in pain instead.

Penny watched in horror as the little guy flew across the pavement, rolling multiple times before stopping, splayed out on his belly. The group quickly hounded in on the downed bitty, and Penny moved before she could overthink her next plan of action.

“Hey boys!” Penny called out with fake enthusiasm.

Their heads whipped around to stare in suspicion at her before they took in her state issued uniform. All of them began acting like guilty kids with their hands caught in the metaphorical cookie jar.

“What’s all the fuss about fellas? You do realize you’re on public propriety don’t you?”

“This thing stole from us!” One of the lanky teens in the back with a shaved head called out from the back before his friend smacked him hard in the chest. “What the fuck? Really man?”

“Stole what?”

Silence.

“Look, I’m going to need you all to clear out, or you guys will be spending the night in a jail cell. Is that clear?”

“The hell you think you are! You little b-!”

“I’m a detective of the downtown Ebott police department. Now before you test my very limited patience today. Please leave.” She said clearly with no hesitation. “And if you were thinking of continuing, I have the number to the police station ready to call on my cell. And if that still won’t dissuade you gentlemen, I have a taser that could possibly have your name written all over it.”

Their stances wearily shifted in the crowd of about ten or so teenagers. They were waiting for their alpha male ‘Butch’ to make the call it seemed.

The greasy, overweight teen towered over her in height, but she was not deterred as his beady eyes glanced down at where presummidly the bitty had fallen before huffing out to his group. “Let’s go. We’ll dust his ass next time he steals from us without his lady friend to save him.”

They shuffled out of the wide alleyway, in her line of sight at all times. It was only when they disappeared down the street corner did she repocket her phone and turn to find the five inch bitty, but it wasn’t there. It wasn’t until she heard a small scraping sound on the pavement did she turn and find the bitty pulling himself behind the meager shelter of a metal rusted trash bin.

“Uh, hello?”

The bitty grunted as it heaved himself up into a sitting position with his back to the brick wall and his feet resting against the metal trash can in front of him. He had a hand cradling the left side of his ribs as he gasped for breath.

“You made quite the show back there. I was very impressed with your fighting skills. I um… Oh sorry, my name’s Penny, it's nice to meet you-?”

“Get lost.”

“Don’t you need help?”

The bitty rolled his gold glowing eyelights and let out a wheezing laugh that quickly faded away in the chilled afternoon air. “I’ve lived on my own for years, little bunny.”

“Bunny?”

“Hopping to the guilty’s defense,” He coughed, wincing as he wheezed out. “Should’ve just let them kick the shit out of me.”

“I couldn’t have watched that happen to you... Sorry, I guess?”

The bitty huffed out another short laugh before digging into his front hoodie pocket with a trembling bony hand. A good chunk of weed was tugged out with some effort, but as he patted his pant pockets down he leaned back and groaned.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a lighter on you?”

“Nope.”

“... Figured.”

It was almost bad luck that the guy started trembling all over his body in earnest before he fell over onto the pavement on his side, hard enough to make a sharp crack sound, before the convulsing began. Penny instantly yanked the garbage bin out of the way and went to help him when a couple of medical facts popped into her head. 

It was probably a seizure.

Which meant she shouldn’t touch him and just let him ride it out.

She didn’t even know that bitties could get seizures…

With her only ally in this situation being words, she gently reassured the feisty bitty as he continued to shake and hit his skull and limbs against the hard pavement. She tried to slip the edge of her jacket underneath his skull, but the shaking grew more violent as she neared him.

The waiting felt like it’d last forever until eventually the tremors subsided and he was left gasping for air to fill his organ lacking body. Dulled golden eyes stared unseeingly forward as he practically melted onto his side and refused to move besides his heaving rib cage.

“Do you want me to take you to a vet to get that checked out?”

His eye twitched irritably.

She read that as an obvious no.

Sighing, Penny looked up the time on the phone and at her surroundings, wondering if the group of wannabe thugs would come back soon, thinking she’d left. They seemed pretty keen on revenge. 

“Would you at least come home with me, so I know you’re going to be okay?”

The exhausted bitty looked as shocked as he possibly could at the moment, resembling tiny bony roadkill.

“I live like right up there,” Penny pointed up towards the eighth floor balcony. “I wouldn’t force you stay forever, but at least rest up for the night, you know. Your body obviously needs it.”

He didn’t answer for a long time, and she knew she couldn’t force him into the idea.

She could see the possibilities running through his skull as he mentally decided the best course of action for survival. A being like him thrived on the day to day. If he stayed the night with her, that was one less night on the street and less potential dangers that sought to hurt him. The only threat he’d have to worry about was her.

“You’d let a stranger stay at your place? You do realize how dangerous bitties can be, don’t you?” He said gruffly before slowly pushing himself to his hands and knees. 

“Slow down there, killer. You can play big bad monster later after we eat dinner, okay?” Penny wasn’t moved by his shakey insinuated threat in the slightest. She’d faced down much worse than this little guy.

He scoffed at her bad attempt at humor, but misplaced his weight momentarily when trying to stand and hit his ribs smack against the unforgivingly hard pavement yet again. Sucking in a breath, he let out a low drawn out whine that so badly wanted to become a scream, but he held back.

Not in front of the human.

Said human, winced in sympathy and held out a hand that had his magical insides clenching in anticipated agony. He hissed and bared his fangs, hidden normally behind his regular smiling grin and glared back at the offending hand. Still it crept closer until he screeched out, “Stop! Stop! Don’t touch me! Just… Give me a second.”

Penny winced as her legs protested her prolonged crouching as she waited for the bitty to gain his bearings once more. Eventually, he pulled himself to his own two feet and swaggered over to the tiny clump of cannabis, shoving it almost angrily back into his front hoodie pocket.

He glanced over his shoulder back at Penny, contemplating her with hardened, weary eyes that had turned out that way over the years due to repeated neglect. Then after several tense seconds of maintaining a searching gaze he seemed to find the answer to his final decision. He glanced off to the side and started walking away from her. Then Penny could only watch as he teleported out of sight.

The bitty had left.

She sucked in a breath and got to her feet, accepting the hard fact that the little guy thought he’d be better off by himself. Maybe it was for the best. Even though he was a some kind of Papyrus bitty, he reminded her of when she first met B-.

“Ya gonna stand there all day, or get a move on,” The voice in her left ear drawled, as a familiar weight settled onto her shoulder.

A rush of giddiness swept through the detective that was quickly followed by guilt. By no means was this a permanent situation, but she was looking forward to having company again. Although, if he did end up staying it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Penny had a preference for bitties.

And this one was checking all her boxes.

She had no idea how to convince him to stay though...

  
  


* * *

“Couch bed is over there, kitchen right here, and bedroom and bathroom way back there… Um… Any questions?”

“Nah, think you covered everything.” The bitty said neutrally.

She inwardly cringed at the potential judgement hidden in the carefully spoken words.

“Nice place you got here. Nothing too crazy, but it looks comfortable.” The bitty finally spoke as he teleported off her shoulder onto the kitchen counter to her right. 

“I’m sorry it’s so cramped in here. I could only afford a one bedroom apartment since I live by myself.” She tried to ignore the bitterness in her gut at how true those words were now as she continued. “But feel free to make yourself at home. Just don’t break or steal anything.”

Gold eyes twinkled with amusement. “I don’t need much space in case you hand't noticed. Besides, I mean what I say. It's a nice place. However...” He motioned over to the refrigerator. “Can we eat now? I’m starving.”

“Oh yeah, sure,” She quickly agreed, pulling out some leftovers, “What would you like?”

“I’m not picky.”

“That’s not helpful.”

“I’ll eat whatever you eat. I don’t care.”

In the end she decided on some leftover homemade tomato soup and put together a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches as well. Unboxing the bitty foodware created a bit of a somber moment as she took it out of the drawer in the space beside where the normal silverware was kept. Thankfully her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the new bitty.

“You almost done yet, little bunny?”

“Almost, just a second,” She reassured, putting the food on the plates and pouring some soup into a small sauce dish. His sandwich was about a quarter of the size of hers, which was an enormous meal for him, but she had no idea just how hungry he was.

She placed the food in front of him where he had been waiting patiently on the kitchen counter before she went to sit at her tiny kitchen island big enough for two people. If he was surprised by the bitty sized dishware he didn’t show it. Yet, it wasn’t long before he quickly teleported himself and his food over to where she sat so he could eat across from her on the counter top. With a smile, Penny dug into her sandwich, happy that he trusted her enough to eat by her.

It was hard to take her eyes off the little guy as he ate, but that made several things apparent to her. The skeleton bitty had dark rings around his eye sockets, and his limbs trembled slightly as they reached for his food. The seizure must’ve been harder on him then he led her to believe. She caught him a couple times listing off to the side only to right himself and continue eating like nothing had happened.

It was a funny thing watching a bitty eat, the food converting to a twinkling magic dust around their mouths as their tiny bodies converted the solid food to magic. It was a little harder for them to eat human food, but completely possible as long as the bitty was healthy. There was monster magic infused kibble at almost any store nowadays that was easier for them to consume. But like most pets, human food was better.

Not that Penny really saw the tiny monsters as pets. They were far too sentient for that.

"So, what's your name?" She finally asked partway into their dinner.

They had been eating in silence so far when she tried to break the ice. Although, it looked like he was going to ignore her for now as he carefully avoided her gaze and continued to eat. Penny mentally shrugged and deciding to give him some space for now. The bitty finished his last bite of the sandwich, wiping some leftover gold dust from his teeth before surprising her with an answer. “Gambit.”

“Oh, like the comic hero or bad guy? I can never remember which one he was.”

“I guess?”

“It’s cool. I like it.”

The bitty nodded, averting his gaze as he looked out at the living room. Gold eyelights found hers again as he sighed and asked. “Do mind if I call it an early night?”

“Go for it, I’ll get everything cleaned up, but just as a heads up, I sleep on the couch bed, but everywhere else is fair game. Unless you’re okay with sharing. I don’t move much in my sleep.”

“Okay,” He stood up and wobbled to his feet. He stumbled and nearly fell until he blipped out of existence, only to reappear on the couch. Penny couldn’t see him from the kitchen since the couch faced away from the little kitchen, but she could hear a groan and some scratching noises against the furniture material from his claws.

Penny dropped the dishes off in the sink, leaving them for the morning as she tentatively stepped into the living room.

“You okay there, Gambit?”

“Fine,” He gasped out, “Just used too much magic today.”

He was curled into a tight ball on his side as he gasped for breath, tensing as she stepped closer.

“It’s okay, I won’t touch you,” She reassured as she crouched in front of the couch. “Anything I can do to help?”

“No…” The bitty paused as if a sudden thought came to him. “Do you have a lighter in here?”

Penny opened her mouth to add another rule to the list, but he cut her off.

“I won’t smoke it in here obviously, but I’ll need to in the morning.” He looked anxious at her continued silence. “I-I uh have no choice. It’s the only thing that stops the shakes.”

“The seizures, you mean?”

“Yeah that.”

“Well,” She got up and went to her junk drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a spare lighter as big as his femur and set it on the side table in the living room at the end of the couch. “Just smoke it outside okay?”

He nodded, and Penny went to get changed into her pj’s in the bathroom and finish her nightly routine before turning off the lights in the room and heading back to the couch.

“So, have you decided where to sleep?”

He was snoring lightly and didn’t wake to her question.

Her eyebrows furrowed, but she refused to pick him up or poke him awake. It would be so easy, but she’d lose all trust with him.

“Gambit?”

He woke up with a yelp and teleported off the couch into the air, falling two feet to onto the hardwood floor. She winced at the pained cry and clattering of bones on the floor. That didn’t sound good.

“I didn’t mean to scare you…”

“Don’t mention it, I’m fine.”

She frowned with worry at him as he struggled to get up, not believing the obvious lie. Without thinking about it too much, she set her hand in front of him with her palm up towards the ceiling. He twitched at the close proximity and glared back at her.

“I’m not touching you, but do you want a hand up at least? It’ll save you some teleporting?”

“No,” The word came out clipped and full of undisguised loathing of the idea. He must’ve hand some serious trauma in the past with humans. Most bitties put their complete faith in people, even strangers they just met. 

“You sure?”

“Yes, don’t touch me.”

Penny straightened up and fell back on the couch pulling the blanket off the back and covering herself, watching her tiny guest struggle to stand. Pity sank low in her guts as she watched him eventually sit up with half lidded eye sockets. He looked like the definition of the word exhaustion.

With a grunt, Penny pushed herself up and off the couch, careful to avoid stepping on her house guest. Grabbing a spare pillow, she placed it securely on the wide window ledge and left the curtains open a crack. Sometimes she liked to sit by the window after work and watch the city life below her. It was just a hunch, but she thought Gambit would be more comfortable sleeping there for the night.

Two bright golden eyelights were watching her in the dark, observing her last minute decision.

Penny stayed silent as she watched him slowly make up his mind and teleport onto the pillow beside her. He could barely keep his eye sockets opened, already half asleep as she made her way back to the couch.

“Night, Gambit,” She murmured as she tucked herself back underneath her warm blanket.

A moment of quiet passed.

“Night, little bunny.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. The Case Continues

Gambit was gone by the next morning.

Surprisingly, (although she’d been expecting it) him being gone wasn’t as damaging to her battered mental health as Penny thought it would be.

It felt like she’d gotten a semblance of her old friend back for at least one more night. 

The selfish longing for wanting him to stay longer and mend that aching hole in her heart was still there. Yet, that wasn’t her decision to make. The bitty had only agreed to stay for one night. Most sane people wouldn’t have invited a wild bitty off the street into their homes anyways, due to how deceptively powerful they could be.

Especially bitties off the street who could have acquired EXP...

She might as well have slept in the room with a wild wolf that could turn on her at any point.

Shrugging at the thought, Penny quickly got ready for the day, and tugged on her uniform before heading out to the station. She couldn’t deny how much her mood had improved just from spending two hours awake with the little skeleton.

Maybe it was time for her to get another bitty?

The door chimed as she entered the police station. She greeted her co-workers as she walked by on her way to her desk. Hanging her jacket up on the hook next to the office door, she went to sit down when the chief appeared in the doorway.

“Morning detective.” The chief greeted her tiredly as he ran a hand over his bushy mustache. “You’re needed down by the 87th street. There’s been a robbery. We’ve already got a couple of officers and forensics at the scene. Think you can handle it?”

Feeling a bit overwhelmed, but nodding in agreement anyways, the chief nodded, letting out a relieved sigh in response and wished her luck before continuing down the hall.

Damn, she had kind of been hoping for another slow paced day.

Grabbing her uniform jacket on the way out the door, she shrugged it on and made her way back outside. A vehicle slowly pulled up beside her making her pause for a moment and look up. Eran waved at her out the driver’s side window of one of the police cruisers before beckoning her over.

“Hop in, I’ll take you there!”

Sighing in relief that she didn’t have to go back to her apartment to grab her own vehicle, Penny jumped in and sank back into the passenger seat.

“I thought you’d be one of the first people there,” She told him with an expectant yet amused look.

“Yeah, I was running late and saw you head in. I figured you’d probably need a ride to the crime scene, so I waited just in case.”

“If only you could give another detective a ride,” She said teasingly. 

“I-I’m not…. Shut up. She’s never going to date me!”

“Just be patient with her. I believe in you rookie.” She flashed him a knowing smile.

He laughed awkwardly, and quickly steered the conversation away from Beatrix and towards work related things.

Meanwhile Penny schemed up ways to get her two friends to start dating.

* * *

Eran had filled her in on the details as the drove closer to the scene of the crime. It looked like another person had robbed a bitty store. The amount of these crimes had been escalating recently with no real leads.

As she hopped out of the vehicle, Penny said her goodbyes to Eran as she headed straight into the heart of the incident. The damage inside of the building didn’t look as bad as the last couple incidents similar to this one. She was careful to keep her distance from a few hardworking forensic scientists that were documenting as much as they could. Taking pictures and samples of bitty dust on the floor.

She counted about ten visible multicolored piles of dust on the tile floor.

Taking in a couple slow deep breaths, Penny returned her focus to the busted open tanks and surveyed the other signs of obvious property damage before turning to walk out of the shop. It was time to find a member of the staff to interrogate. 

Penny searched everywhere, asking multiple officers and law enforcement staff until one could give her an answer. There had been a young girl in her twenties working the front counter. She’d been knocked unconscious and was currently on her way to a nearby hospital.

The security footage retrieved from the back office however showed a familiar suspect breaking into the tanks, taking the willing bitties and killing the ones that were refusing. Sometimes the stolen bitties would kill the unwilling ones instead of the masked perpetrator. 

Silver eyes gleamed almost manically up at the camera, as the man covered head to toe in a black vigilante outfit waved back at them before leaving with his small army of bitties out the store front.

Nobody had any leads as to what he’d need all them for. The most obvious being a bitty fighting ring for money, but all their inside intel showed no reports of him appearing at any of the known underground places.

Penny grounded her teeth in frustration as she left and walked around the side of the building to think. This was the one case she did not want to follow up on at the moment, but since she knew the most about it, it made since for her boss to send her and not Beatrix. Unless he didn’t know the details about the dead bitties, and was trying to get her back on her feet. Still, she’d give anything to follow any other case. Her heart panged sympathetically for the ten unnamed piles of glittery dust in the store.

“You okay?”

She jumped and let out a choked startled sound before turning her head to look down at the bitty a few feet from her.

“Oh, uh no not really,” She mumbled out as she rubbed her tired eyes before looking back at him. The bitty looked much better than the night before. 

Gambit hummed in reply before nodding his head in the direction of the store. “It’s pretty messed up in there. I’d be surprised if anyone didn’t feel something after seeing that.”

“You were in there?”

He took in her surprised tone and chuckled darkly. “Of course, it’s been the talk of the neighborhood this morning. I had to see it for myself.”

“Do you know anything about what happened? Anything, even street gossip could be very helpful to our case.”

The bitty narrowed his eye sockets. “What’s this? An interrogation?”

“No I just,” She stopped and recomposed herself. “This case is personal to me, and I’d like to have it solved and over with as soon as possible.”

“Is that why you had all those bitty supplies with you last night?” He hedged boldly but with a careful tone. “Did that guy-?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’m sorry, that’s a shitty way to lose a pet.”

Anger flared to life within her at that word. “He wasn’t just a pet you know. He was my best friend... Honestly, I don’t think bitties should be classified as pets anymore. You guys are way too intelligent for that.”

Gambit didn’t look fazed by your ranting, but his calculating eyes watched you before he teleported away. A second later she felt him pop into existence on her left shoulder.

“I think I’ll tag along with you today if that’s alright? I already finished running my errands for the day.”

She blinked in confusion before smiling at her new acquaintance. “I’d like that, but are you sure?”

“Sure as I can be. Now let’s get going, human. We’re burning daylight, and we’ve got a murderer to catch!” He said with a slight upbeat tone in his usual monotone voice.

“I doubt we’re going to find him today.”

“Nonsense, now onwards!”

* * *

They didn’t find him, or any other clues for that matter.

A quick visit to the hospital proved pointless, since the front register girl Brandy wasn’t able to add any new information. The attack had happened quickly as to not draw too much attention. The man didn’t even say anything before he’d walked up, grabbed her by the back of the head and slammed her forehead repeatedly into the check out desk.

The chief found the two later in Penny’s office, he took a moment to study the new bitty who sat with his feet dangling off the edge of the desk facing the detective. The bitty turned quickly to watch him, two golden eyelights focusing on him like a well trained guard dog ready to leap into action at a moments notice. Sensing the sudden tension, the chief took one more step towards the desk and cleared his throat to announce his presence.

“Oh, hi chief, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Just wondering how the robbery case went? I heard it was the same man you’ve been chasing this past year? Are you holding up okay?”

She paused and nodded slowly, wondering briefly why those worried words didn’t make her burst out into tears uncontrollably like they had the previous three weeks. “It wasn’t your fault, chief. I’m doing alright.”

The chief let out a breath in relief before setting his sights on the tense bitty again. “I see you have a new partner. Did you find him at the store?”

“Not exactly?” It came out like a question. “It’s complicated. We’re sort of giving this a trial run.”

Gambit remained silent as the chief studied him a bit longer before giving Penny one more relieved smile. 

“Well, I’m glad you got him. Your job is dangerous enough as it is. It gives me peace of mind when you have someone else watching your back.” He faced the bitty once more. “Take care of her for us will you?”

The bitty blinked, startled at the direct question. “I’ll do my best… sir.”

“Glad to hear it,” He said before nodding farewell and backing out of the office.

Penny waited until he was further down the hallway before speaking. “Don’t worry about him. You’re not obligated to stay here. I mean, I’ll take the extra help if you want to officially join the task force, but until then you can’t go on any missions with me. It’s too dangerous.”

“I live off the streets. I’m constantly fending off stray dogs, hobos, junkies, and thugs on a daily basis. How much more dangerous could it get?” Gambit looked amused as he started to relax again, his feet kicking forwards and backwards again.

“Would you even want to be my partner?” Penny decided to bite the bullet and ask. She felt anxious as the bitty took a couple seconds to contemplate the question.

“What’s in it for me?”

“Free food, a place to stay if you need it, and a new friend?” She listed off, trying to wrack her brain for anything else that could entice the bitty.

“Eh, works for me,” He agreed without much hesitation this time, gold eyelights twinkling with suppressed excitement.

“You mean it?”

“Yeah, I mean as long as I get some days off too. I still have to make my city rounds every once in a while.”

Penny nodded, curious about what he where he went to in the city, but letting it slide for now.

She had a new almost official partner.

“Okay, let me go get the leftover adoption papers from the break room. I’ll mail it in, and make it official, but I’m sure they’ll let you start working with me right away if you’re serious.”

The bitty adoption forms were similar to a dog’s license. While you technically needed one, not a lot of people bothered with them. However, they were nice to have if someone accused you of stealing a bitty and you could prove they were legally yours. There were many other examples, and being part of the police force, you didn’t want to skip around the law.

“Make sure to put devilishly handsome as the type of bitty,” Gambit called out as she left the office. She stopped to roll her eyes and chuckle before he added in full monotone. “All caps.”

Penny rolled her eyes and chuckled in amusement before the thought hit her. “What bitty type are you anyway?”

A few beads of sweat dripped down his skull as he scratched the back of his cervical vertebrae nervously. Uncharacteristically he stammered out, “L-Lil bro, I g-guess?”

“Lil bro?” Penny nodded as she leaned against the doorway, biting her lip as she tried to figure out his sudden show of anxiety. “I was thinking that, but aren’t Lil bros' magic more orange instead of gold?”

“Ah, not all of them,” He mumbled reluctantly before waving her on. “Go get your papers, I’ll wait here.”

Sending him one last questioning look, she turned and walked away to get back to the task at hand.

* * *

They solved three cases in two weeks. Granted they were small cases, a missing animal stolen by a neighbor, a car thief, and a repeated vandalizer had all been caught. Gambit had so much street knowledge, that he’d known bits and pieces from each case which paired with the forensic evidence gathered from weeks prior managed to put a nail in the coffin on those cases quickly and efficiently.

Currently they were both at the apartment, lazing on the couch watching t.v. in pajamas. She’d bought Gambit some extra clothes much to the bitty’s displeasure. Although, he loved the free food, he didn’t take well to free belongings. It took awhile for him to decide trying some of them on, but on most days he preferred his original yellow hoodie and black cargo pants.

The only article of clothing he'd worn everyday since she'd purchased his clothes was a navy blue beanie.

Secretly, it made her ridiculously happy to have found something he liked so much.

Some whale documentary played on the screen that had them both yawning and zoning out to the low baritone voice narrating the episode. It got to the part where the whales were cuddling up to each other when a thought occurred to her that she never asked the bitty before now.

“Hey, Gambit?”

“What?”

“You don’t have to tell me,” She shifted with her back against the armrest so she could face the bitty at the other end of the couch. “But why don’t you like anyone touching you? Is it a phobia? I mean I’d probably be scared if a huge person tried picking me up too, but don’t most bitties like being close to humans? Sorry, I know I’m rambing.”

Gambit paused from eating another fruit snack he’d kept beside him all evening and shrugged with a noncommittal noise before popping the treat in his mouth and chewing.

“Really? Not gonna give me anything?”

He swallowed the food down, and turned to raise where his eyebrow would be at her. “You really want to hear it? It’s not a happy story, little bunny.”

“I would like to know,” She frowned as she quietly said the words, worried it had to do with his seizures.

“Well,” He turned to face the t.v. once more before starting. “To make a long story short. My first owner died unexpectedly. Not wanting to end up at a rescue or adoption center, I left and became the street rat you know today. But anyways, shortly after I left my owners house I was staying at the central park, and this teenager thought it’d be really funny to pick me up and show me off to his friends. I had been sleeping under a park bench, and I woke up scared not knowing what was going on. So I bit him… and well he didn’t like that....”

She watched him pull up his hoodie and turn his torso enough so she could see the mangled left side of his rib cage and tiny upside down white heart beating wildly in his chest. It contradicted the calm and almost flippant tone of voice as he recalled the day.

“He crushed me with his hand while I screamed for him to stop. It felt like forever, and I can remember feeling each one of my ribs crack from top to bottom like a sick domino effect. If it wasn’t for the homeless guy sleeping on the bench I’d been under, I probably would’ve dusted then and there. And now just the thought of having someone making a grab for me…”

“That sounds awful. I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“Don’t be. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Welp, if you ever want help conquering that fear, I’ll be here for you.” She smiled reassuringly as he slowly melted back into the couch while tugging down the bottom of his hoodie.

Amusement slowly surfaced in his expressive eyelights that darted over to her face in the dimly lit apartment. “Yeah, and what would you do to help me conquer my fear?”

“I could poke you occasionally. Maybe you’d eventually get used to it and go from there?”

“...”

“Come on, give my poke therapy a try?”

“Fine, just poking. But! Y-You have to warn me everytime.” He wrung one of his wrists anxiously as he kept his gaze on the human beside him.

“Of course,” She scooted slightly closer. “Wanna start now?”

“Not really, but what the hell, why not?”

Painstakingly slow, she brought her hand closer to the bitty, who watched her hand attentively with pin pricked eyelights. She wasn’t even touching him yet and he looked ready to run.

“You okay, Gambit?”

“I-I… I-”

She withdrew her hand, and watched him fist the front of his hoodie and regain his breathing. His right hand cradling his left side protectively. This was going to be more emotionally draining than she’d thought.

When he’d calmed down enough, she brought her hand towards him once more with her index finger extended.

“Wanna try again?”

He nodded slowly, surprising her.

Feeling like this scene probably looked ridiculous to an outsider, she crept closer and gently poked his boney left shoulder before retreating her hand just as slow to not startle him.

“Okay?” Penny whispered.

“I think so.” He winced slightly as he removed his tight grip from where he’d protected his ribs from her. “I’ll probably need more practice with that before we can do anything else.”

“Sounds like a plan, partner.”

……………

……………

That night they fell asleep on the couch together for the first time since Gambit starting rooming with her. Both stayed on their respective ends of the couch, with Penny curled up into a tight ball to give the bitty his space.

Then out of nowhere, a loud bang shook the apartment, waking it’s residents and the surrounding neighborhood. The pair startled awake, and within a minute her phone was ringing.

“Penny, it’s the chief, we need you down here asap.”

“On my way,” She said quickly, hanging up the phone and scurrying to get dressed in the dark.

Gambit teleported onto her shoulder as she headed out the door.

Time to get back to work.

It must’ve been a bad omen to have been dreaming of those maniacal silver eyes of her enemy before she’d been so rudely woken up.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I'll see you guys next week for one of my favorite chapters in this story :)


	3. Bad Omen

“I can give you one of my strongest, but not both. I need the weekend income to keep this place in business. Know what I mean?”

“Sounds perfect.”

The greasy weasel of a man grinned at the easy agreement to their negotiations. In all honesty, the buyer beside him looked like the kind of wild animal you did not want to piss off under any circumstances.

“Crow, get over here!” 

Within the vast tunnels underneath a booming bar filled to the brim with drunk customers, the two slunk down to the bitty holding area. The bitty in question didn’t hear the initial summon, so the tattooed owner burst through a supply door to observe the floor to ceiling stacked crates that took up nearly the entire room. Hundreds of beady eyes, and petrified pin pricked eyelights peered back at the duo as they entered the room almost predatory like.

“Crow!”

A faint crackling of pressure hit the air as a collared horror bitty appeared before them on a couple of stacked crates filled to the brim with other bitties.

“Hey boss. Is it my turn in the ring again?” The bitty’s eyes narrowed with barely disguised hatred.

“Nope you’re all done with that now. He’s your new owner,” The man pointed his thumb back to the eerily silent business partner behind him. “Your free to go, you’ve been bought out.”

“And my brother?”

“He stays here.”

“...”

“Crow, I’m not repeating myself,” Tattooed guy was getting annoyed at the bitty’s disobedience. 

A single red eyelight flicked up to look at his new ‘owner’ with a suspicious expression before he teleported onto the shoulder of the masked person.

“Hello, Crow,” The new guy practically purred out his name. He reached a hand up to pet the top of his crushed in skull. “We’re going to do such wonderful things together.”

Crow didn’t flinch away from the touch, but he did scoff at the unknown man’s words. “Yeah, like what?”

Silver eyes turned to look at him, they were opened wide and almost manic in expression. Beneath the half mask that covered his nose and face, Crow could see a wide grin move into place under the tight fabric.

“You’ll see soon enough.”

* * *

When they arrived at the bar positioned at the base of a skyscraper, the place was in disarray. People were still being escorted out by police and medical staff as the two walked closer to the scene. Penny took hardly anytime to get into the bar and investigate right away. The place didn’t appear to be bombed from the inside. Besides the normal scrambled mess of people feeling the scene, there wasn’t too much to take note off.

It took nearly an hour to figure out there was a secret door in the kitchen that led to an underground private club. More specifically, it was an underground bitty fighting ring.

Gambit, who had been quiet during most of the investigation, finally spoke up when Penny went to grab her bitty catching gear.

“What’re you going to do with the survivors?”

Penny startled at his words as she picked up a butterfly net looking device and a few magic depleting smoke bombs made to knock out the feistier bitties.

“Well, usually they go to a rehabilitation shelter first. Some end up in foster homes, and others back in pet stores eventually. It just depends on the bitty and situation, I guess?”

Gambit nodded, looking appeased for now as Penny met up with Eran and Beatrix at a couple cars down the street.

“Ready for some action?” Penny asked, waving her green butterfly net in front of her.

“You go ahead and get started,” Beatrix said as she gestured to their co-worker. “He’s never had to go bitty hunting before so I’m giving him the rundown of how it usually goes.”

“I’m going to start scouting around then, I’ll see you guys in there.” She told them after giving Eran a purposefully look which he made a face at.

Penny then hurried back to the building, and down into the dimly lit tunnel. After some careful navigating, she located a back area filled with many different holding crates for bitties. Gambit cursed unhappily at the sight, but besides a handful of sleeping Sansys, Cherrys, and one Papyrus, there were no other bitties left. She quickly managed to coax the survivors into one decent sized pet carrier before taking them topside before beginning the search once more. 

  
“Our silver eyed friend must’ve been bored and decided to stop by here tonight,” Gambit mused.

Penny nodded in agreement as she searched up and down the endless hallways. She still had yet to find the actual bitty ring. She passed a number of cops that were also trying to map the place out. 

It didn’t take long before a loud crash alerted everyone in the tunnels to the presence of someone else. The three other cops followed her down the winding path before stopping in front of another well used door. The handle was drooping halfway down naturally with overuse, and the metal door had a few dents at varying heights from over the years.

The cops situated themselves in formation with Penny and Gambit hidden behind one of the ones hanging back before they burst in and quickly scoured the place. A few bitties in crates squeaked in fear, or outright began bauling at the unexpected loud noise. They were stuck in what looked to be extra small dog crates, huddled into the corners cowering. Some brave few were glaring or growling back at the cops defensively.

At least they were already all caged up. Most of their job was already done for them.

“Please, help me! T-the fuckin guy was crazy! He blew the whole place up!” A heavily tattooed and scrawny man called out from under a nearby table in the back corner.

He was quickly pulled out of hiding and cuffed with his belly on the ground. If anything he looked relieved to see them here.

“What’s your name?” Penny asked.”

“Harvey.”

“Okay, Harvey, be honest, what happened here?”

“I uh I was doing some business earlier with this guy. Sold him a powerful bitty, I did. Then he comes back during the last hour of the show and blows everything the fuck up. Crazy lunatic! He had a group of bitties with him, I-I think he stole some from the back. I mean I don’t run a bad business. I have standards. We don’t dust them as often as other places. It’s better for upkeep costs. My bitties are happy and healthy gladiators. They love their job. I swear.”

Penny glanced down at the terrified bitties and back to the as of now previous owner of them.

“Bitty cage fighting is illegal. It’s a well known law. There’s no exceptions.” Penny stated neutrally while inside she was a raging inferno of hate.

“Take him in. I’ll question him more in the morning.”

They moved to pull him out of the room when the room lit up with crackling electricity. Penny felt a shiver run down her spine as the atmosphere became heavy and clouded with magical prowess.

“Ah crap, Omen, I thought you were taken by that crazy guy.” Harvey agitatedly ground out.

They had thought the bitty fighting area in the center of the room was empty. Penny cautiously headed towards the arena, studying how the anti magic caged fencing went from floor to ceiling. The space was as large as a small bedroom, plenty of room for a small scale battle to the death. The battle floor was a glitter fest of the remains of previous contenders and in the center stood a little Meek bitty. He must have been left behind during the kidnapping due to his bitty types reputation.

The little one stared up at you with an apathetic expression, eye lights nonexistent.

“Penny, stay back,” Gambit finally piped up as he tensed up from his perch on your left shoulder. “This one’s dangerous. Can’t you feel it?”

“We’re going to have to get him to the van with the others, Gambit.”

“He’s going to kill us if we try. I know you can’t feel intent, but he’s beyond murderous right now.”

She frowned, unable to see yet how a gentled natured type bitty could cause damage to her or her fellow officers still in the room.

“Careful miss, Omen is very protective of his master. I’ve practically ingrained it in him since I found him half dead in the street with his brother. He’s going to be so lost without me. Poor-”

“You sold my brother didn’t you?”

The little bitty growled the words out before holding out an arm and splaying his phalanges out. The cuffed man hovered in the air before getting flung onto a table, he gurgled out a couple pleas for help as the pressure focused then on his throat. The cops that ran to help him were soon tossed aside with the bitties insane power. The little guy looked like he was barely breaking a sweat.

The one officer that’d hung back, hurriedly took out a magic suppressing gas bomb and chucked it at the caged arena. The small metal canister rolled up snug to the fence, but the Meek bitty look unperturbed at its presence.

Taking out two cans of her own, Penny dropped them and gently kicked them closer to the fence. She felt Gambit sag on her shoulder as the gas filled the air and felt a stab of panic as he fell forward off her shoulder completely limp. She caught him easily and paused for a second, waiting for his inevitable freak out that never came. 

He was completely out cold.

Meanwhile the Meek bitty had given up on strangling Harvey and instead slammed him into the brick wall behind him a couple times before throwing him across the room. The officers stayed back out of caution. No bitty had ever been strong enough to throw multiple people from that far away and under the influence of magic suppressors. 

It was scary to think how strong the bitty was under better circumstances.

Hollow eye sockets turned towards Penny as she finally approached after placing Gambit securely in her jacket pocket. He didn’t look worried about her approach at all. The bitty watched her like an apex predator would watch an insect out of boredom. There would be no fun from roughing her up. 

His real prey was outside of the cage.

The bloodlust was thick in the air.

Penny pressed onwards and crouched outside of the simple bolt locked gated door. She studied the outwardly calm bitty before her as she cradled a hand against the Gambit sized lump in her pocket to make sure he didn’t get to jostled.

The Meek bitty wore a teal tank top and hoodie combo, tiny blue jeans and tan boots. It looked adorable, but the bitty obviously had the personality of a horror movie villain. 

Penny didn’t know if a shelter would even take in a bitty as strong and frightening as this little Meek bitty.

She also didn’t think she’d ever think of something as ridiculous as that.

The only thing that’d be somewhat as shocking would be a Baby Blue bitty going on a killing spree. It just didn’t happen. They didn’t have the disposition for it.

“Let me out. I want to  _ ingrain  _ something in his skull for breaking our deal.”

“You need to calm down. You’re safe now. We’re getting you out of this situation, but you have to cooperate with us.”

Aqua colored light flared into existence in his left eye socket for the first time, a burning hatred rolling in his near pupiless reaction to her words. “I’m done cooperating. I think revenge is long overdue at this point.”

The gate burst open, knocking Penny onto her back. She grunted at the impact, and quickly scrambled to her feet and backed away as the bitty slowly walked over to a near hysterical Harvey. The man couldn’t seem to get his bearings as he kicked pathetically at the ground to slide himself further away from the approaching bitty.

For once, the detective was at a loss for what to do. The other bitty clearly had complete control of this situation. He was way too strong to confront head on. 

She had to think of something, but there was no time. 

Locking eyes with her fellow officers, she saw them draw the same conclusions. The suppressors usually did the trick for most bitties, and she didn’t want to attempt to use the net after what he did the locked anti magic doorway to the fighting pen.

“Penny?” Beatrix whispered as she snuck into the room beside Penny near where they’d entered the room. Her friend instantly clued in that something wasn’t right with the bitty making a beeline for the cuffed criminal struggling to flee on the other side of the room.

“We need to get out of here and get back up. He’s too strong.”

“Penny, I want you to take this and press the button when I give you the signal okay?” Beatrix said in a hushed voice as she handed her a familiar looking remote.

The dusting net was only used as a final resort by law enforcement or animal control. No bitties ever survived being captured by the cruel device. Penny hadn’t known they’d packed any in the bitty transport van.

Beatrix gave her a knowing look as she shook the weighted net out and began to sneak up behind the bitty who only had eyes for his prey. Penny's heart was pounding in her chest as she watched Beatrix chuck the net in his direction with near perfect aim. So caught up in his plans for revenge against his captor, he went down under the weighted net and snarled at the sudden interruption. Aqua magic flared underneath the mat just as Beatrix yelled to push the button while jumping back from the angry bitty.

The detective didn’t hesitate to press the button and hold it down, feeling an uncomfortable weight in her guts telling her this was wrong as she watched the bitty get continuously shocked. It screamed in agony as the mat applied shock damage while simultaneously draining the magic from the trapped bitty. It was horrifying to listen too, and Penny felt her already tender heart pang in remorse for what needed to be done. Everyone in the room knew that the little guy wouldn't stop until their suspect was dead. It was either a human life or an artificial one.

When the electricity was done firing off, Penny let go of the trigger and hurried over to the remains of the bitty. She tore that mat off and gasped in shock that it was still alive somehow, and awake for that matter.

“It’s going to take more than that to kill a murderer like me,” The bitty mumbled tiredly not trying to sit up from where it was lying on his stomach. “You could always just stomp on me a couple times. It’s a lot easier.”

Beatrix reached over and clipped an extra anti magic collar around the bitty's neck that would shock him if he attempted to use his abilities for as long as he had it on. The bitty was back to his empty socket expression as he stared pressumidly down at the floor.

“Just kill me now. They’ll do it later at the shelter anyways.” The bitty shifted his head slightly to look up at Penny who stared back apprehensively. 

“I can’t, and they don’t kill rescues. They’ll find a good home for you-”

“Penny, you know that they dust the ones with a record right? Maybe it’d be better if we did as he asked?” Beatrix interjected. “One bullet to the skull was all it’d take. It’s practically painless.”

“Wait, no! We’re not killing him. It’s against protocol.”

“You know as well as I do that there’s no exact protocol for a situation like this. A bitty this strong shouldn’t be allowed to survive anyways. He’s a danger to the public and everyone else around him.”

The three officers in the room glanced between you two before hefting the weeping Harvey off the floor and dragging him out of the room.

The one who’d initially thrown the first gas canister stayed back and interrupted them before leaving. “We’ll let you two take it from here. Take all the time you need.” The officers had distinct haunted expressions on their faces as they eyed the small skeleton warily on their way out of the room.

Beatrix brought her gun out.

“Wait a minute, how can you be so quick to kill him? He was probably just as abused as the rest of the bitties in here.”

“I watched what he did, Penny! I arrived just after he started throwing everybody around. He could’ve killed everyone in this room if he wanted to. You’d really let him try to get through the adoption system? No one’s going to foster him! Like they’d let him stay with someone?” She flipped the safety off the gun. “A bitty like this one scares me.”

Said bitty looked practically half dead as his sockets became half lidded. He coughed weakly as the gas finally started taking some effect on him, dragging him off to sleep.

She didn’t know if it was pity, or from losing her best friend a month ago. Penny wasn’t an idiot, she knew a bitty like this would be trouble. Yet, she couldn’t bare the agony of watching such an amazingly powerful being die this way. 

Had he ever got to experience a normal life before all this?

Maybe she could-?

The barrel of the gun now rested against the bitties skull.

His name had been Omen, she thought she heard the bitty handler say.

“Wait.”

The bitty glanced up at Penny before sighing and shutting his eye sockets as he let the two humans duel out his fate.

“I’m going to take him home. I want to try to rehabilitate him. If it doesn’t work I’ll figure something else out.”

Beatrix raised an eyebrow before laughing humorlessly. “You’re going to get yourself and your new bitty partner killed.”

“No, that won’t happen because he’ll be wearing that,” Penny said pointing towards the collar.

“You really think something like that could stop him when he’s back to full health? What're you going to do when he wants to go on another murder spree?”

“I’ll figure it out. Just put the gun away.”

Penny watched as her friend tightened her finger against the trigger, Beatrix not looking away from her as she tested her friend’s resolve.

“He didn’t deserve a life of killing. Let me give him the chance to live a happy life for once. Please, Beatrix. Trust me on this one.”

Beatrix rolled her eyes and lifted the gun away, reholstering it and turning to walk away to get a look at the amount of rainbow dust glittering ominously in the low lighting of the arena.

Penny’s hands meanwhile were trembling as she gently lifted the small bitty, cupped in both her hands up to about chest level in front of her.

“... Omen, was it?”

The bitty’s eye sockets half opened to stare at her, his uncaring attitude not changing in the slightest. He nodded in affirmation, tucking his hands into his armpits and curling up tighter into a ball.

Penny still couldn’t believe this was the same murderously angry bitty from five minutes ago.

“Well Omen, I’m Penny.” She glanced up to look at her friend that was staring down at the bitty remains on the floor. “And that’s Beatrix over there. I’m sorry this is probably the worst introduction you’ve ever had.”

“...”

The silence was telling.

She looked back at her friend who was still staring at the rainbow looking glitter dust with disgust. “So, let’s round up the rest of the bitties then you can call it a night. Sound good to you, Beatrix?”

“I’ll cover your shift today. I’m too wired to sleep right now.” The taller girl said as she walked back over and glanced down at the fetal positioned bitty in her friend’s hands. She sighed, “Go home and get some sleep, I’ll take care of the rest of the bitties in here.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, just be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt. I really don’t like you leaving with that one. Call me right away if it gives you any trouble.”

“I’ll be careful, I promise,” She looked determined as stared down at the now sleeping bitty. “I just know there’s something more to this one.”

“... I hope your right.”

  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally forgot to upload this last week, my bad... I'm easily distracted...
> 
> To answer a previous comment, Gambit doesn't exactly trust Penny just yet, but he figures at least through her he can have a place to crash at night for now. It'll better explain it later. He's kind of just tolerating her presence for now to get some free perks, but she's growing on him like a happy fungus.
> 
> I actually just bought the Detective Pikachu movie today which was what inspired this story originally. Now I'm off to go watch it before I crash for the night. 
> 
> I hope you all have a lovely day! Until next time!


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